Falcons called, but never made offer for Broncos No. 2 pick

Atlanta GM Thomas Dimitroff said Monday on Pro Football Talk Live that besides the deal he made with the Cleveland Browns while moving up from No. 27 to No. 6, he had also talked to other teams about moving up, including the Broncos, who had the No. 2 draft pick.

Before screaming at the Broncos’ braintrust for turning down an offer that would have been richer than the five-pick haul the Browns received, some clarification is needed. Starting with the fact the Falcons never made an offer to the Broncos.

According to an NFL source, Dimitroff did call the Broncos about their No. 2 pick, but it was ”weeks before” the draft. Many teams put out preliminary feelers well in advance of the draft. According to the source, Dimitroff said he would never offer draft-chart value in return for moving up from No. 27 to No. 2. The Broncos let him know they weren’t interested in trading the pick unless they got proper value for moving back.

The two sides left it at that. Nothing specific was discussed and the Broncos never heard from Dimitroff or the Falcons again.

Dimitroff wound up trading five picks _ including two first rounders and a second rounder _ to Cleveland for the right to claim Alabama receiver Julio Jones at No. 6. Dimitroff said he had talked about adjusting his trade package with some teams depending on their draft slot, but never engaged with serious talks with others. Count the Broncos among the latter.

In fact, the source said Dimitroff never made any offer to the Broncos.

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.